For years I have been puzzled by the fierce resistance of product managers to integrate customers feedback into the products’ design and marketing process. Surely, many use elaborate survey and market focus group studies to validate and refine an original concept, but the use of the feedback to form an original concept is widely sneered upon as a fool’s errand.

Many practitioners are convinced that customers do not know what they want, until they experience a remarkable product they cannot live without. While there is some truth in the belief that customers cannot articulate their latent needs, it doesn’t mean they have nothing to contribute to the process of conceptual design. Product managers, who rely on their own vision, like to quote Henry Ford “If I’d asked my customers what they wanted, they’d have said a faster horse” without realizing that he never uttered those words. Meanwhile the dependence on Divine Intervention, i.e. visions of product managers, results in very high product failure rates and is a luxury fewer companies are willing to gamble on.

There are two basic reasons why customer feedback as source of inspiration is commonly rejected:

Marketing Research proved to be very ineffective in the past in identifying truly original product opportunities. For many product marketers it offered a convenient excuse to throw the proverbial baby out with the bath water. However, the few who have learned that “The job, not the customer, is the fundamental unit of analysis for a marketer who hopes to develop products that customers will buy” – Clayton Christensen, experienced consistent improvement in bringing successful products to markets. In other words, research into the experiences of customers, who use currently existing products, will discover original product opportunities – not the research into product’s features and functions, customer personas and market sizing. The core question is why did customers buy it in the first place, i.e. what do they hope to achieve by using it?

The traditional approach to the management of customer feedback is an analysis of what customers say, or how they feel, about your product and/or products offered by your competitors. However, analysis is only the first step of gaining an insight.

The terms “Voice of Customer” or “Customer Feedback” in this context do not include structured data compiled from closed ended survey questions. The response to such a question cannot help to discover a latent need, it can only validate one that was previously discovered. This discovery can only be done by a synthesis of previously analyzed open form feedback, such as unstructured commentary or review. As customers share their experience of currently available products, they often use different words and expressions to describe common frustrations or delights. It is not a trivial task to understand the specifics of their frustrations and to interpret this understanding into new product requirements, i.e. synthesis.

There are many tools available today to collect, aggregate and analyze customer feedback. The science of this process is well defined and commonly utilized. There are some capable technologies available for detailed analysis of unstructured feedback, even though they are not yet as easily productized and applied. However, the art of synthesis and translation is the domain of creative product practitioners that rely on data instead of vision.

]]>http://www.business2community.com/product-management/voice-of-customers-challenge-to-product-managers-01287067/feed0First, Get A Product You Can Sell — Part 1http://www.business2community.com/product-management/first-get-a-product-you-can-sell-part-1-01290254
http://www.business2community.com/product-management/first-get-a-product-you-can-sell-part-1-01290254#commentsFri, 31 Jul 2015 01:12:24 +0000http://timothyfreriks.com/?p=115I have been consolidating and prioritizing my messages for early-stage entrepreneurs. I think that success starts with one simple task: coming up with a product that people will buy. I often talk about bringing ambition and commitment to the table, and that is critical as well, but no amount of ambition or commitment is going to overcome the lack of a product that people, people other than yourself, will see VALUE.

You probably have a product or service idea you want to build into a business; otherwise you might not be reading this. Whether you’re starting a physical-product business, a consulting business, or a retail store, the most important question you have to answer is this: will people give you money for it? Remember: without revenue from paying customers, you won’t have a product to build a business around. So, before you invest a lot of time in building a business plan or developing the final product, the challenge is to make sure your product will provide a substantial value to a lot of people, value sufficient to induce them to part with their money in exchange for it.

How do you create sufficient value? Value is a function of benefit divided by cost; the wider the spread between benefit and cost, the stronger the value. The stronger the value, the more likely it will be that you can create a motivated customer. “Cost” can be much more easily calculated than “Benefit”. Benefit is a tricky word; not everybody will see the benefit in your product solution. To use a well-worn cliché, Eskimos would see less value in having a refrigerator than would someone living in Panama. Basically, the bigger the problem that a certain set of people have, the more benefit the product that solves it will offer—and the more likely they are to purchase your product.

There’s another qualifier: the size of the market. If your product is only attractive to left-handed, blond, male Eskimos between the ages of 10 and 12, you might not have many prospects. However, if your product offers a powerful solution to a very wide swath of the population, you may really have something.

It comes down to the three critical questions:

Are there a lot of people who really have the problem your product is trying to solve? (stress the words ‘lot of’ and ‘really’)

Do they have an urgent need to solve the problem? (stress the word ‘urgent’)

Does your product offer a compelling solution to their problem? (stress the word ‘compelling’)

You may be the only person in the world that thinks the problem your product solves is a significant problem. What if the vast majority of your target customers really don’t care, really don’t recognize the issue as being up to ‘problem’ status? Then, there’s no basis for needing a solution.

Now, you may have identified a problem that a lot of people have, but none of them really think it important to find a solution; it simply isn’t ‘urgent’ enough. Urgency is a critical component: it drives the foundation for the motivation to pay for a solution. Little or no urgency will not produce motivated customers; there simply is not enough perceived value.

You may have identified a problem that is shared by a lot of people and you have determined that customers indeed have a strong degree of urgency to find a solution, but your product sucks. A product can fail because: it doesn’t work, the cost is higher than the perceived benefit, it is too hard to use (the ‘effort’ part of cost is too high), or a competitor simply does it better.

If you don’t have a good answer to all three questions, you may be ready for a new idea. In Part 2, we’ll talk about how to get definitive answers to these questions and determine whether or not you have a product worthy of further development.

Virtually every B2B software company has a product management function. Product managers typically act as the voice of the customer: they generate roadmaps, prioritize features, and align teams. And somewhere among this list of duties falls creating a product strategy.

In its simplest form, a product strategy identifies solutions to the product’s three penultimate challenges. A well crafted strategy is a product manager’s best friend: if it’s done right, it makes every other aspect of a product manager’s job easier. And without a strategy a PM’s job is not only harder, but the odds of success are much longer.

Since almost all of a software company’s revenue comes from selling products and services, you would think that a product strategy would be carefully crafted, closely scrutinized by the executive team, and aligned to the overarching corporate strategy. But product strategies are seldom developed this way. The deeper I get into my career, the more obvious it becomes that product managers often mistake many things as business strategy. They spend months or years spinning their wheels and making little progress towards their goals, all the while thinking that they’re working strategically.
Don’t waste your time with a strategy that’s not a strategy. Here are four common examples of what product managers often mistake as strategies but instead represent ineffective decision-making:

“Vague Management Gobbledygook” Strategies

Let’s cut right to the chase with an obvious example of shudder-worthy management gobbledygook strategy:

Our strategy is to be the partner of choice for our customers by offering solutions that address their most critical needs.

I don’t mean to call anyone out if this is your current strategy. But I do want to encourage you to evaluate what this statement means. Is your strategy really just to sell your product to customers? That’s not a strategy, that’s a plan to stay in business.

Close cousins this kind of management gobbledygook include Rah! Rah! managers full of mythical Vince Lombardi quotes and organizations that are fond of saying that “Having a backup plan means you’re planning to fail.” This kind of management gobbledygook is simply too vague to be a real strategy. What does that strategy tell you about the customer? What does that strategy tell you about how they differentiate themselves from their competitors? Beware such strategies and managers; they lead good people to bad outcomes.

“Financial Plan” Strategies

I once met with the CFO of a company that generates about $400 Million in annual revenue. When I asked him to describe his firm’s strategy, he slid their three-year forecast across the table and said, “Here’s our strategy. This is what we have to achieve.”

Unfortunately, financial forecasts make for very poor business strategies. By their very nature, forecasts reduce millions of interactions and decisions to a single number. This is like saying, “We want to win our next football game by the score of 40-7,” and calling it a strategy. At best, it is an educated prediction.

Real strategies tell you what action to take and where your priorities lie, and they have real obstacles with real outcomes. Identifying and agreeing on these obstacles is hard work, but doing so allows you to formulate a plan, allocate resources, and address each obstacle with a realistic, measurable outcome.

“Masquerading” Strategies

“Masquerading” strategies, also known as “After the Offsite Retreat Strategies” typically pop up among the 10 or 20 goals that a management team can brainstorm during leadership meetings. These so-called strategies are usually insightful pearls such as “Growth,” “Achieve best-in-class operational processes,” and “Become the customer’s partner of choice.”

You have to squint to see these kinds of strategies because they are hiding all over the place; they masquerade as a business’s vision or mission statement, long-term goals, or company values, and they provide no insight into how to make decisions.

“Expansion” Strategies

Companies that hire truly talented people end up with a lot of competitive peers jockeying for resources and control. That’s good for the organization because the team will generate a lot of good investment ideas; each business unit’s expansion plan is sound, so are all their product extensions, and so is that IT revitalization project that needs to be done.

Yeah, right.

“Every investment is a priority,” cannot be your strategy because there is only enough capital and time to undertake a few initiatives. Leadership needs to be able to tell high-performing senior executives “Not now,” or “No” without the fear of blowing up internal conflicts between competing projects.

“Empty” Strategies

Strategies must stand for something — anything — or they simply are not strategies. To have depth, meaning, and viability, a strategy must have a complete and utter opposite strategy. In this case, an “empty” strategy is one that doesn’t have an opposite strategy. You must ask yourself whether or not the negative of your strategy holds true… and if there is no negative, you can be sure that you don’t have a strategy at all.

For example, many companies pretend that an empty phrase like “Our product is customer centric,” is a strategy. But there’s no opposite to this strategy because being customer centric is a simple business principle. On the other hand, “We will sell our product through indirect channels,” does have an opposite: direct to customers. Therefore, it passes the test as a real strategy that a business can work through.

Crafting a good product strategy is as important as prioritizing features or meeting with customers. You can’t write off your product’s strategy as something as simple as made-up, vague, or ineffective language and hope to be successful. Instead, evaluate your strategy according to these four non-strategies and see how you can improve your strategy to improve your bottom line.

]]>http://www.business2community.com/product-management/5-signs-b2b-business-strategy-not-strategy-01287556/feed1Supply Chain Risks and How to Deal With Themhttp://www.business2community.com/product-management/supply-chain-risks-and-how-to-deal-with-them-01268803
http://www.business2community.com/product-management/supply-chain-risks-and-how-to-deal-with-them-01268803#commentsWed, 08 Jul 2015 03:31:17 +0000https://www.businessvibes.com/blog/Supply-Chain-Risks-and-How-Deal-ThemSupply chains provide an efficient method for helping many different companies to run as smoothly as possible. With being unable to control every element of the supply chain within your business, this does bring an element of risk into the process.

Even the sections which are under your control are also open to risk, and this can have a minor or major impact upon the company, depending on its line of business and size. Some risks will be easily reduced or eliminated, while for small businesses they can have a much more devastating effect.

Supply and Demand

Unpredictable customer and end customer demands can cause a problem for supply chains. An on-demand economy in which everyone expects services and products as soon as possible is adding pressure to many supply chains. Companies with the fastest supply chains therefore do better. Tracking order trends and predicting the busiest periods should help reduce the strain during periods of heavy demand.

Supply risks are an external risk which affects any segment of the supply process, such as acquiring parts or materials required for creating your business’ product. Always use reliable sources for getting hold of these and trustworthy transport or couriers where necessary. The final supply of product or service to customers must also be delivered by reliable teams such as Howard Tenens.

Environmental

Other external risks which your company can have no control over are environmental ones. Whether social, political or related to climate and weather, usually these risks will be applied to many other businesses using similar supply chains as well. Adaptations can be made for certain governmental and political risks which are usually known about in advance.

Many natural disasters cannot be predicted or arrive with too little warning to make amendments. The Icelandic volcano eruption from a few years ago along with Thailand and other national floods all impacted upon many supply chains by delaying deliveries and other aspects. Political disruption such as the fighting in Ukraine also affected many business supply chains. Devising a back-up plan in case of such disasters should help alleviate the problem if one occurs.

Business

Internal supply chain risks can crop up as well, with changes in your company creating business risks to the process. Loss of personnel, whether planned or unplanned with employees being let go or leaving of their own accord, will affect certain elements. The supply chain should be adapted when known changes are made, with replacements adequately trained in the role.

Management switches, reporting structures and adaptations to other business processes will all affect the overall supply chain. When making such changes to the business the overall supply chain and effect upon it must be considered to avoid any unpredictable risks arising.

The beauty of dropshipping is that it lets you sell products online with very little investment or risk. For businesses looking to expand their offerings on their current storefront, open a new store or simply test new products outside of those currently handled by their logistics provider or warehouse, adding a dropshipper to their fulfillment ecosystem is a common strategy.

When testing this out, the retailer does not keep goods in stock, but instead transfers customer orders and shipment details to either the manufacturer or a wholesaler, who then ships the goods directly to the customer.

While dropshipping is a great way to help scale your business, finding the right dropshipper to add to your mix can be challenging. There are plenty of middlemen and brokers who claim to be genuine, but can end up negatively impacting your margins and customer confidence and perception of your brand. Therefore, retailers must do their own research to avoid being exploited. It is simply a matter of remaining customer-centric as well as dedicated to your overall brand experience.

Here’s short list of important considerations in selecting a dropshipper.

1. Start with the Manufacturer

Removing the middlemen from your supply chain will increase your dropshipping success. That said, figure out who manufactures the items you want to sell on your store and contact them directly. Manufacturers typically have the best prices if they do dropship, and if they don’t, they’ll likely have leads on reputable distributors who may carry similar products from different manufacturers. In other words, go to the source. Don’t get hassled by the middlemen.

2. Put Them to the Test

Ensure your dropshippers are reliable by placing a few test orders with them. Take note of the average shipping time and quality of the items received. Remember, your customers’ experience will reflect on your brand, not the dropshipper.

Keep in mind, as well, that by utilizing a dropshipper, you no longer have strict control over the look and feel of packaging. While the dropshipper should use the label you provide, they may not adhere to your brand’s other packing requirements, perhaps increasing the potential for damage of the item or going off-brand from the packaging look-and-feel of items shipped directly from store.

If you sell in a marketplace –– i.e. Amazon, eBay, Etsy –– make sure that the dropshipper delivers within the marketplace’s required timeframes. If your product is delivered by the dropshipper outside of the required delivery time, your brand will receive negative feedback with the potential of generating penalties against your seller accounts.

Plus, it is extremely difficult to win back customers who had a negative experience with your brand. Check out some of these stats as proof:

89% of consumers have stopped doing business with a company after experiencing poor customer service.

Consumers are 2x more likely to share their bad customer service experiences than they are to talk about positive experiences.

It takes 12 positive customer experiences to make up for one negative experience.

In other words, do your due diligence when selecting a dropshippers. Their potential poor performance could result in negative brand engagement for your company.

3. Ensure They Have a Competent Support Staff

Contact dropshippers who fit your criteria for products offered. If you are not able to quickly connect with a representative on email or via phone, it can be indicative of the type of customer service you will receive if you use them. Ask if your company will be assigned a representative or if you will be dealing with a different person every time you need assistance. Either type of system can work if the dropshipper’s service is acceptable. Determining that, however, is up to you.

4. Make Sure You Are Paying True Wholesale Prices

Are the product and shipping costs within a profitable range? Many product suppliers claim to price items low enough for buyers to produce efficient profit margins, when in reality their prices are retail or just below.

Speaking of extra unwanted costs, legitimate dropshippers rarely require account set up fees or monthly account maintenance fees. If the service you are using does require this, talk with a representative about why this is, being sure to feel out the situation and charges for yourself.

Finally, as you identify products that sell well for you, you should be able to purchase those products in larger volumes to leverage volume price breaks.

5. Plan for Returns and Other Issues

Backorders, lost shipments and returns are all part of retailing. Unfortunately, when using a dropshipper, some of these issues may be beyond your control. Your best plan of attack is to be prepared for these issues by discussing policies and expectations with the dropshipper ahead of time. Your customers expect their product to be a certain quality, based on your brand reputation, and therefore your dropshipper will need to guarantee a certain standard of product quality in addition to being willing to replace any defective products.

Be wary of dropshippers that do not offer these guarantees.

6. Pay Attention to the Metrics

Be sure to research and compare your potential dropshippers objectively against the metrics that matter most to your business. Common questions include:

How many online stores have used this dropshipper for at least one order in the past 30 days? This is an indication of the dropshippers’ competency and size. It might even be useful to ask for specific online stores and reach out to them for reference.

How accurate is their inventory feed? How often is it updated? What is their backorder rate?

At any given time, what percentage of their inventory is in stock –– by SKU and across their total SKU volume?

Do they support the partial shipping of orders? Do they allow backorders?

What are their shipping methods and costs?

What is their average shipment time after an order is processed?

7. Favor Dropshippers Who Embrace Technology

The more partners you add to your supply chain, the greater the complexity in your order management processes and decision making. If a dropshipper isn’t up to speed with the latest technologies and isn’t willing to cooperate with your technology stack, move on to one that is.

Manual handling of issues such as order routing and purchase order generation are susceptible to manual errors, lost orders and shipping mistakes, all of which can increase customer churn, leaving a bad taste in the mouths of online customers you were hoping to “wow.”

In all, automate as much as possible. Remove the manual labor from the equation so you can focus on growing your business. Dropshippers that make use of emailed or FTP order fulfillment while providing inventory in a highly compatible format –– i.e. CSV –– can make managing your store and integrating with other ecommerce technology providers much, much easier.

]]>http://www.business2community.com/product-management/dropshipping-due-diligence-7-steps-to-outsourcing-inventory-and-shipping-without-damaging-your-brand-01264915/feed13 Tips to a Successful Product Launchhttp://www.business2community.com/product-management/3-tips-to-a-successful-product-launch-01262727
http://www.business2community.com/product-management/3-tips-to-a-successful-product-launch-01262727#commentsFri, 03 Jul 2015 13:00:26 +0000http://www.laneterralever.com/?p=8454Product launch. Sending your baby out into the world can be a terrifying thought, but it doesn’t have to be. Anyone who has been working for months getting ready for a product launch knows the stress and the fear that can run rampant. Much of this is caused by the unknown, the fear that you’re missing something that could go wrong and completely tank your product launch. So below we’ve shared some of the best ways to avoid the common pitfalls in introducing your product to the public.

Find the Minimum Viable Product (MVP)

“Develop the Minimum Viable Product (MVP), that which has the highest return-on-investment versus risk. It’s the product that’s ‘big enough’ to sell in volume, with good margins, but not so big as to have exponentially increasing risk and investment with each new feature.” – Frank Robinson, CEO of SyncDev, Inc.

The product that will have the greatest profit and least risk – the MVP – should always be at the forefront of your launch campaign. One of the biggest issues many companies make is trying to do too much with their product at once. They forget their MVP and the key services it provides, putting too much forward at once. Creative ideas are great. That’s what led to your product in the first place. But their execution must be kept in check. It can be very easy for a team to sit down and create a heap of great ideas for a product, but it’s the product’s core purpose that you are selling, and that’s where the body of the campaign should focus.

Beware of the premature launch

A premature product launch occurs any time a product is released before it is really ready. Whether the programming needs fine- tuning or the materials will not stand the test of time, there are a number of ways the product can be unprepared. For example, take the launch of the Windows operating system, Vista. Before its release, Microsoft implemented a massive marketing campaign to support the launch, creating anticipation among its extensive audience. But even with its strong efforts, the product still failed. It turned out that Vista had numerous bugs and needed significantly more testing, which resulted in tremendous backlash. The product was clearly not ready, but because of all the hype around it’s anticipated release, it was pushed out anyways.

How could this have been avoided? I can’t say what unknown influences there were in the decision to launch, but the product simply should have been given more time. Although the bugs were eventually worked out, the launch caused most consumers to avoid the product altogether.

A product that’s actually ready has been thoroughly tested with no issues, and it has an outstanding marketing plan to back it. Furthermore, everyone on the product teams are familiar and comfortable with the product branding and goals, so that their delivery of all assets are cohesive.

Build a committed team

“Unless commitment is made, there are only promises and hopes… but no plans.” – Peter Drucker

A commitment involves more than just planning and making promises. It requires individuals who hold themselves responsible for their work and complete tasks that need to be done. When you commit to a product, the commitment doesn’t end at product launch, but carries over to the maintenance and improvements of that product in the future. It’s critical to have a plan for the future of your product, considering successes, failures, and competition.

The team of individuals working on a product must be equally committed. Sometimes garnering that commitment can be a challenge, but encouraging your team through positive reinforcements and recognizing hard work will support their engagement. Couple that with strong communication between teams, and you get team members who understand the goals of the product and its corresponding campaign.

Product launches are stressful – that’s just the nature of it. But by preparing yourself with the key areas to pay attention to, you can give your customers that magical moment when they find the thing that they didn’t know they were waiting for. And that’s when it gets exciting.

]]>http://www.business2community.com/product-management/3-tips-to-a-successful-product-launch-01262727/feed0Leveraging Technology to Improve Safety in Field Servicehttp://www.business2community.com/product-management/leveraging-technology-improve-safety-field-service-01252764
http://www.business2community.com/product-management/leveraging-technology-improve-safety-field-service-01252764#commentsWed, 01 Jul 2015 06:08:42 +0000http://www.business2community.com/?p=1252764According to the World Health Organization, just a 5 percent reduction in the average speed can reduce the number of fatal crashes by as much as 3 percent. Driver safety technology has been successful in helping large fleet and field service organizations to manage such risky driver behavior, and subsequently reduce accidents, vehicle downtime and prevent lost productivity due to road incidents.

Once deployed, driver safety solutions send real-time alerts to the driver as well as to the back office so drivers are aware of poor driving and can change their behavior, and the back office can use the data to identify who needs coaching, helping to reduce incidents and mitigate risks associated with road-related accidents.

Eaton Sales & Service LLC, a major petroleum equipment supplier, uses a driver safety solution to monitor poor driving. Using their in-vehicle safety technology, fleet managers can execute back-office analyses of aggressive maneuvers such as “jackrabbit starts,” hard braking, harsh turns and excessive speed to better identify and then coach the people that put the company at risk.

Driver safety solutions also allow employees to learn the parameters of safe driving so they can make immediate adjustments to their behavior. For Eaton, that resulted in a 30 percent reduction in speeding.

Fostering business intelligence through extended safety capabilitiesOrganizations can extend the capabilities of their driver safety solutions even more by using performance management analytics tools. These tools can consolidate driver data across a large workforce to provide fleet managers with advanced business intelligence. Generating performance reports, for instance, helps to identify trends and manage by exception. A performance report can detail the driver scores of a workforce for up to a month, to show who has experienced the biggest change in driving style over that period and why. If one driver is braking too hard or turning too aggressively, this will be highlighted in the report. The management team can view the information and arrange for coaching if needed.

Mobility solutions also impact driver safety
Identifying drivers who need coaching is only one part of operating a safe and efficient fleet. Drivers need ongoing benchmarks of their driving skills. With the right technology, they will be always-aware of road safety, no matter what vehicle they are using.

Mobile apps are also increasingly important as a tool for monitoring safety in field service. This technology allows drivers to monitor their behavior by having data from the vehicle sent to their smartphone. The app picks up harsh maneuvers such as hard braking, jackrabbit starts, speeding and sharp turns and will rate the maneuvers as acceptable, moderate or hard. This provides the driver with performance intelligence to increase road awareness, enabling them to make improvements. The organization benefits from reduced accidents by deploying a safer workforce on the road.

Companies and individual drivers must take responsibility for their fleet safety. Rewarding and recognizing individuals helps to promote a safe driving culture across the organization. But beyond safety, improved driver habits can reduce fuel costs and vehicle wear and tear caused by harsh and aggressive driving.

For more information on Trimble field service technology, visit www.trimble.com/fsm.

Building a product is hard. But crafting your product’s value proposition is even harder.

In just a few short minutes (and words), you need to capture your audience’s attention and share your entire brand story. As Kapost’s Blueprint of Product Launch Marketing points out, content can help by providing the right type of information at the right stage in your customer’s buying journey.

Focus on the following content-driven steps to make your product launch awesome.

1. Capture the Buyer’s Interest

The days of hard sells are over. Today’s buyers are heavily self-directed, and they rely on research to make purchase decisions.

What complicates factors, however, is that they may not be looking for your products. Instead, they’re diagnosing tangential pain points—and searching for keywords and themes around your brand.

One way to develop a rapport with prospective customers is to be present on the channels they use to seek information. Blog posts, infographics, videos, presentations, and live events are powerful, attention-grabbing resources that can kickstart customer relationships.

Recent research from Google found that B2B buyers conduct an average of 12 searches before visiting a specific brand’s site.

2. Keep the Discussion Going

Think of step #1 as your introductory handshake with your audience. Now it’s time to keep the relationship going through materials like emails, newsletters, whitepapers, online surveys, and workbooks.

Above anything, focus on educating your buyers. By helping them learn, you’ll position your brand as a trusted, go-to resource. Rather than forcing a hard sell, you can help your prospects self-direct their pace of learning.

71% of B2B tech marketers cite lead generation as their top content marketing goal.

3. Align Your Product to the Buyer’s Needs

At this stage, a portion of your audience will want to learn about your product. Make sure there are plenty of resources available through webinars, live demos, product one-pagers, and FAQ documents to help articulate why customers should invest their time and resources with your brand.

Unlike the content created in steps #1 and #2, these pieces should be heavily product-centric by breaking down complex ideas into easy-to-digest language. Information should be short, focused, to the point, and heavily product-centric. To help guide your content development process, prioritize information around your customers’ frequently asked questions.

60% of people are inspired to seek out a product after reading content about it.

4. Secure the Buyer’s Confidence

The content that you create in step #3 will explain what your product is and how it works. In this step, you’ll focus on the ROI that your company helps your customers achieve.

77% of buyers want different content at each stage of the product research process.

Content plays a key role at every stage of the buying journey. When navigating a product launch, it’s important to keep all four of the above steps in mind. Position your brand as a guide, help your audiences learn, and empower them to succeed.

]]>http://www.business2community.com/product-management/the-dimensions-of-an-awesome-product-launch-01245398/feed0Electronic Proof of Delivery for Wholesalers: It’s as Easy as A, B, Chttp://www.business2community.com/product-management/electronic-proof-delivery-wholesalers-easy-b-c-01231198
http://www.business2community.com/product-management/electronic-proof-delivery-wholesalers-easy-b-c-01231198#commentsSat, 23 May 2015 19:42:03 +0000http://www.business2community.com/?p=1231198Find out how Electronic Proof of Delivery is improving business efficiencies and customer service in wholesale delivery.

Incorrectly picked items, rejected substitutions and damaged goods can be a regular occurrence in wholesale deliveries, but Electronic Proof of Delivery (EPOD) allows delivery drivers to record problems immediately and improve response times. Not only does that give the driver an electronic log of delivery, it’s also an effective way to handle complaints. Previously, wholesalers have used hard copy delivery notes throughout their wholesale deliveries. Amazingly, there are still many wholesalers – including large operators – that still have people spending all day filing signed deliveries and re-entering information into the company IT system, which increases workload and increases the likelihood for human error. EPOD saves time and increases efficiencies. But the benefits don’t stop there, the software can be used for vehicle health checklists, to conduct customer surveys and to store journey plans, improving efficiency for the wholesaler and service for the customer, all while stood on their premises.

How Electronic Proof of Delivery can improve business efficiencies and customer service

EPOD systems are designed to ensure that all elements of a wholesale delivery run smoothly and communicate with each other. Here’s how they work:

Instead of creating paper invoices or delivery notes at the branch and taking them in the vehicle, EPOD software on handheld devices enables the checking of deliveries against orders on customers’ premises.

The driver can deal with any returns, update order details and arrange for a printed invoice for the right products.

The software then communicates everything to the company IT systems, which means potential problems can be dealt with in real time.

Less paper also means less photocopying and storage costs, as well as adding to your environmental credentials.

Understanding customers better

Drivers can also use EPOD systems to record customer preferences, such as whether they prefer the delivery at the front or the back of the store. Customer records are updated for future reference, ensuring that all future deliveries are made according to these preferences. This can be particularly useful for new drivers. The system can also be used to conduct customer surveys, helping wholesalers to get a better understanding of their customers in just a few clicks.

Using technology to improve insight

No matter how much you utilise technology to improve your business, the savvy wholesalers are combining technology with great personal service, which is vastly improving wholesale deliveries. Once a delivery schedule is confirmed, sending a text or an email confirmation of the time the customer can expect delivery is an efficient and invaluable service for the customer.

]]>http://www.business2community.com/product-management/electronic-proof-delivery-wholesalers-easy-b-c-01231198/feed0The Art of Manufacturing: Is Outsourcing or Insourcing Better For Your Business?http://www.business2community.com/product-management/art-manufacturing-outsourcing-insourcing-better-business-01227622
http://www.business2community.com/product-management/art-manufacturing-outsourcing-insourcing-better-business-01227622#commentsThu, 21 May 2015 03:16:07 +0000http://www.business2community.com/?p=1227622In the global manufacturing sector, there has been an ongoing battle between the various merits of outsourcing and insourcing since the great recession. While brands were committed to outsourcing manufacturing in a bid to reduce costs while the recession raged, for example, 2012 saw a change in philosophy as companies such as General Electric looked to capitalise on renewed growth by moving the majority of its production tasks back home.

The debate between the merits of the two continues to this day; although a period of steady economic growth and the strategic efforts of firms such as Starbucks have created a trend where business use both outsourcing and insourcing to drive different commercial elements. This issue is more complex for small or start-up firms, however, primarily because these entities operate on smaller budgets and find it more challenging to balance quality against margin.

Outsourced or Insourced Manufacturing: Which is right for your Start-up?

Ultimately, start-up businesses will need to make a decision between insourcing and outsourcing their manufacturing operations, as their range is likely to be limited as they establish themselves. This requires a great deal of forethought and consideration, as your decision will have a huge impact on the quality of your product, its production cost and any bottom line profit that you are hoping to generate. Consider the following steps towards making this decision: –

The Cost of Outsourcing vs. Insourcing

This is the single most important consideration, as start-up businesses are likely to have a stringent and relatively restricted budget. So regardless of their business philosophy or desired approach to manufacturing, they may find that their options are limited by fiscal constraints. The difficulty is that both insourcing and outsourcing have their own unique cost bases, each of which need careful consideration before you can make an informed decision.

To begin with, insourcing is typically more expensive in developed nations such as the U.S. and the UK. This is due in part to a higher minimum wage and improved worker regulations, which dictate that employers must invest more into salaries and the cultivation of a safe and functional working environment. While outsourcing to developing economies such as China reduces this cost, you may be required to fund overseas shipments and regular visits to your offshore manufacturing plant. The key is to thoroughly research the individual costs associated with each option before estimating your gross burn rate, before balancing this against forecasted turnover to make an informed selection.

The Importance of Quality and Control

This leads us on to the next consideration, as it may well be that both insourcing and outsourcing options are within your remit. If this is the case, it is imperative that you consider the importance of quality and control, as this will vary considerably depending on which option you choose. As the recent UK manufacturing awards showcased, firms that manufacture their products in-house are able to drive higher levels of quality (especially when creating niche items that demand industry expertise).

The two main considerations in this instance are the complexity of your products and the volume that you intend to produce. If you have a simple and easy to fabricate product that needs to be manufactured in small quantities initially, for example, then outsourcing represents a far lower-risk strategy. In contrast, if you aim to manufacture relatively complex products in a high volume, you may be better served by insourcing and retaining control of this process in-house. Either way, your decision will need to be justified by cost and volume projections.

Your Growth Plan and how this Impacts on Cash Flow

Growth is one of those generic business terms, although it is something that all private sector firms aspire to. While it is considered to be a positive development when your company grows organically, however, commercial expansion can cause issues in terms of cash flow and the fulfilment of orders. This can put pressure on your business, while it can also undermine your manufacturing process if you have made a decision based purely on short-term trends and output. So before you make a financial commitment to either insource or outsource, you will need to consider your businesses five and ten year growth plans to identify any areas where cash flow may be impacted.

Given that growth and minimal cash flow may create debt within your business, it may be best to create a flexible manufacturing strategy that can be adapted at different junctures to suit your circumstances. This may mean outsourcing initially and leasing low-cost premises on short-term contracts while cash flow is restricted, before insourcing and ramping up production as your company achieves growth and begins to generate a steady flow of income.

]]>http://www.business2community.com/product-management/art-manufacturing-outsourcing-insourcing-better-business-01227622/feed0How to Implement a PMO Toolhttp://www.business2community.com/product-management/implement-pmo-tool-01220403
http://www.business2community.com/product-management/implement-pmo-tool-01220403#commentsMon, 18 May 2015 00:53:07 +0000http://www.business2community.com/?p=1220403Is that the million-dollar question that many PMOs face today? Recognising that there is no silver bullet for the successful implementation of PMO tools or even choosing the right tool for their programme and project organisations. The prospect of implementing the right tool is daunting but the decision is becoming an increasingly necessary one.

In order to become better at what they do, PMOs need to automate where they can in order to free up their time to add more value in areas which currently cannot be automated.

The areas which help to improve project capability such as scenario planning, risk management workshops, facilitating requirements gathering and providing guidance on exceptions. The areas that organisations want to see more of and PMOs want to offer but have their hands tied because of the sheer amount of time and effort currently spent on areas such as reporting, governance and metrics.

PMOs have to move beyond working the spreadsheets at the end of the month and start taking steps to improve their own maturity. Working in real-time, at the push of the button to provide ‘one version of the truth’ is just one of the steps they need to take and it is one that needs technology. PMOs have to embrace the use of technology in their day to day work and start moving from the view that it is a daunting prospect to one which allows them to utilise technology and enable them to move on to the next level of PMO maturity and value added service.

I chatted to David Walton from Bestoutcome about the challenges PMOs are facing today when automation is on the cards and how they can start to plan in order to make their own change project successful.

There is a seven part plan which forms the basis of a PMO tool change project. After all, the introduction of new tools into a department or wider organisation is definitely a project and it is definitely a change for the workforce. The approach is to run it like a project. The plan overview includes:

Define your objectives

Define your scope

Review the marketplace for solutions – NOT tools

Run a vendor selection process

Run a pilot as a project

Negotiate and agree contracts

Plan and launch the new tool as a change project

As the name suggests – Bestoutcome – is a reminder for everyone that the first steps in any project needs to be focused on the outcomes we want, what our stakeholders want and what the business needs.

The project management technique – MoSCoW – is a great way to remain focused on those outcomes. The technique, often used in software development projects is as follows:

M – MUST:

Describes a feature that must be included in the final solution for the solution to be considered a success.

S – SHOULD:

Represents a high -priority feature that should be included in the solution if it is possible within the available time/resources/budget but which can be deferred/omitted without compromising the success of the solution.

C -COULD:

Represents a feature that would be useful and could be included in the solution if it is possible within the available time/resources/budget but which can be deferred/omitted without compromising the success of the solution.

W -WON’T:

Represents a feature that stakeholders have agreed will not be implemented initially but may be considered for the future.

It is tempting to go for the most expansive scope but using MoSCoW rules helps to focus on the really important and critical ones.

When the PMO undertakes a software or tool project like this, it spends the majority of its time making sure the objectives and scope incorporate the views of the many stakeholders across the business. In many cases, this is often the first time a PMO has had to deliver a project of their own rather than supporting one and all eyes are on them. It makes sense to invest the time and effort upfront in the requirements stage.

Successful tool implementations lead to PMOs freeing up time to offer new services or just do more of the supporting activities they never had time to do. I was interested to know what David thought about the life of PMO post automation. My question was, “What do PMOs concentrate on once they become more automated?”

David talked about getting back to the ‘value added services’ that PMOs should be concentrating on which directly improve programme and project delivery results in an organisation. He would like to see the PMO role in coaching and mentoring improve. Having the ability to help Project Managers make more informed decisions based on real – one truth data, for example providing scenario planning is another area. The PMO also needs to be thinking about their role in change management – what services are needed? Does the PMO just focus on facilitating sessions about good change management practice or do they go one step further – making sure change management is there within the project plans and coaching PMs to recognise when it is needed?

Freeing up time through automation enables the PMO to rethink their service offerings, explore new opportunities and services and feel confident that they have the time and resources to deliver them.

I’m always interested to see what other professionals in this field think about PMO and the role they will play in the future. David’s ideal PMO of the future will include these top five:

The PMO will be populated by experienced PPM practitioners

The PMO will run the portfolio prioritisation and planning function

The PMO will still be running the reporting processes – focusing on outcomes

The PMO will provide health checks across an organisation’s portfolio

The PMO will carve out a role within change management

With automation taking care of the once mundane PMO functions, the possibilities for future PMO services certainly becomes endless. Perhaps this becomes the top challenge PMOs will have in the future but it is certainly a nice problem to have.

]]>http://www.business2community.com/product-management/implement-pmo-tool-01220403/feed05 Tips for Manufacturing Automationhttp://www.business2community.com/product-management/5-tips-manufacturing-automation-01221996
http://www.business2community.com/product-management/5-tips-manufacturing-automation-01221996#commentsSun, 17 May 2015 03:35:54 +0000http://www.business2community.com/?p=1221996Discover five tips for gaining greater visibility and control over manufacturing processes to increase profitability.

More often than not, manual means inefficient. Almost every process that your team carries out manually can be automated through ERP systems.

“Previously, we produced 40 chairs in an hour. Now, we run up to 120 chairs in an hour.” Kevin Hall, Head of International Business Systems Development, Herman Miller

The benefits of automation:

Lower error rates

Consistent quality

Faster operation

Machines and computers don’t take breaks.

Yes, there’s a cost to automation. But that cost is quickly offset by the benefits of boosted productivity, reduced wastage and improved customer relationships. If you can’t measure your results, you can’t improve them – so the greater visibility and control manufacturing software gives you is invaluable.

“Less than 50 per cent of companies claim to be very confident in the quality of their data.”Source

Tip 1: Get everything talking

Integration is the profit engine for manufacturing automation. When your machines, processes and people all start talking to one another, they become more than individually spinning cogs in your business machine. Interconnectivity pulls them together and the output is greater efficiency.

Manufacturers were asked in an IDC survey “What could be done to improve decision-making capability?” The response:

Speed up business processes (85%)

Access real-time information (61%)

Improve collaboration (60%).

Tip 2: Bin the paper

Eliminate the time wasted searching through files or photocopying documents by scanning the originals. Scanned documents can be accessed at the point when they are needed, and only when they are needed. They don’t get dog-eared or dirty and they’re easier to keep up-to-date.

Save time by scanning:

Original designs

Product specifications

System manuals and instruction sheets

Customer reference documents.

Tip 3: Escape from the mouse

Touch and voice technology are making the mouse and keyboard redundant, especially in the factory and warehouse. Touch screens literally put the information workers need at their fingertips. Essential information can be permanently displayed, with control and inputs swiftly accessed through tapping the screen. Unlike paper, touch screens update automatically.

Tip 4: Keep the customer informed

The customer is arguably the most important ingredient in your manufacturing process. By increasing the visibility of the stage their order is at, it’s easier for them to plan and feel in control. Properly integrated manufacturing software gives you the capability to automatically inform customers when key stages in the production process have been reached via emails or web portals.

“Ineffective or inadequate IT is emerging as the single most critical barrier to mastering complexity.”In Pursuit of Operational Excellence: Accelerating Business Change Through Next -Generation ERP, IDC Manufacturing Insights

What automatic updates do for customers:

Build trust

Increase confidence

Make it easier to do business with you

Keep them coming back.

Tip 5: Take fast delivery of the facts

To run a complex operation efficiently requires the making of well-informed and timely decisions, and lots of them. When data is old or incomplete, it impairs your ability to make the best choices. Real time information removes much of the uncertainty and delay from production management. Workers at all levels receive the facts they need, when they need them.

How real time information pushes up profits:

Cuts stock turns

Reduces wastage

Raises productivity

Improves customer service

Builds customer loyalty.

However quickly and efficiently machines work, some decisions demand the experience and skills of a human operator. That’s where real time information, as part of an integrated manufacturing system, makes a difference – it allows you to focus resources where they add the maximum value, and deliver the biggest contribution to profitability.

Do you have any tips to add? Use the comments space below…

]]>http://www.business2community.com/product-management/5-tips-manufacturing-automation-01221996/feed0Inside P3O – Why PMO Practitioners Take the Traininghttp://www.business2community.com/product-management/inside-p3o-pmo-practitioners-take-training-01220899
http://www.business2community.com/product-management/inside-p3o-pmo-practitioners-take-training-01220899#commentsSat, 16 May 2015 19:57:37 +0000http://www.business2community.com/?p=1220899Back in 2008 the PMO community saw a new guidance emerge which was focused on Portfolio, Program and Project Offices (P3O). The guidance was seen as a great step forward in giving PMOs more exposure within the program and project management world. The guidance, since 2008, has already been refreshed and updated. Over the last seven years PMO practitioners have also chosen to undertake the accompanying training and examinations.

I wanted to find out more about who chooses this course, what specifically they are interested in and what benefits they have obtained from taking part in the course.

So why do PMO practitioners opt for the P3O course? Is it for development purposes? Do organisations prefer their PMO practitioners to have P3O? Do practitioners do it for the personal challenge?

I spoke to lead trainer in P3O at SPOCE, Graham Shreeve and he filled us in.

“The majority of delegates want to improve their skills and competencies so they are able to provide a higher value and quality service to their customers (users / stakeholders). They do tend to be seasoned PMO practitioners and we see people from all over the world, representing all kinds of organisations from large and small organisations in both the public and private sector as well as not for profit and charities. It is pretty diverse.”

In terms of the typical PMO practitioner profile, delegates see themselves as supporting their organisation in delivering complex changes at a portfolio as well as individual change initiative level. This has led to more and more attendees being interested in the portfolio office model and how P3O integrates with Management of Portfolios (MoP), which provides a very pragmatic approach to support the senior management team decision making.

PMO practitioners take P3O training for a number of different reasons. I wanted to know which part of the P3O course they particularly find interesting and useful back in the office.

“The area of the guidance that concentrates on PMO maturity and the relationship to the organisation’s own maturity levels particularly strikes a chord. Determining their level of P3M3 capability that the guidance offers, this powerful discovery, diagnostic and base lining tool helps practitioners to frame their PMO services against organisational maturity levels.”

Designing the governance arrangements / frameworks of the PMO and Target Operating models (Blueprints) for their offices is also another area which gets the thumbs up. Given that implementing a P3O model has significant organisational implications, P3O helps PMO practitioners to see where those implications and challenges may lie. PMO practitioners specifically enjoy practical activities in P3O training and the analysis of user requirements and the design of the P3O target operating model (Blueprint) are both areas where practitioners can roll their sleeves up and take part in scenarios and real world activities.

Networking is also a big deal to PMO practitioners – just like The PMO Conference – they also welcome the opportunity to share their own insights and practices with other likeminded professionals. It can help to know that the challenges you face are also being experienced by others or a more positive spin, it’s nice to know that your own PMO is looking healthy against other PMO examples.

So is P3O something you would look to undertake as a PMO practitioner?

Well it certainly offers a straight forward approach to designing and implementing a comprehensive PPM and PMO infrastructure that that can make a real difference in delivering change in an organisation. It is useful to any PMO practitioner regardless of the level they work at in their PMOs because it is crucial that wider knowledge of what PMOs are there to do is understood by everyone who works within them.

You don’t need to be designing or managing a PMO to get something out of the P3O course. In fact it can be used in many ways such as a self-consulting framework, a design, build and implement approach, bench-marking and gap-analysis – process re-engineering project.

Even at a more basic junior level, P3O shows what services are expected at each level – portfolio, programmer project. In fact, speak to any PMO practitioner with experience of P3O and they’ll tell you it’s Appendix D, the services menu that becomes the well-thumbed part long after the training course has finished.

Undertaking P3O is also a sign of your own commitment to your career. If you work within a PMO, P3O is the only accredited course that exists today which is directly related to PMO.

With P3O being part of the AXELOS suite of best practice guidance which includes firm favorite PRINCE2, P3O is seen as a pre-requisite to other accreditations. For a PMO practitioner, follow on courses such as Management of Portfolios (MoP) and Managing Successful Programs (MSP) dovetail well with P3O knowledge which is why we often see PMO professionals today with this training profile.

At The PMO Conference in London this June we’ll be hearing about P3O in a session called P3O and Beyond which will take a look at where next for P3O and the accredited practitioners.

]]>http://www.business2community.com/product-management/inside-p3o-pmo-practitioners-take-training-01220899/feed0How to Optimize a Product’s Entry to a New Categoryhttp://www.business2community.com/product-management/optimize-products-entry-new-category-01220425
http://www.business2community.com/product-management/optimize-products-entry-new-category-01220425#commentsSun, 10 May 2015 12:45:39 +0000http://mitsmrreport.sloanreview.mit.edu/?p=226Not every product can enter the market at the ideal time. Here are three strategies for making the best of any timing.

Companies that launch innovative products in new industries need to understand the dynamics of new product categories. One of the elements of new categories is the name by which new product categories are known. Time it right, and you’re selling a “smartphone.” Time it wrong, and you’re trying to move a “PDA phone” or an “all in one device.”

Research by Fernando F. Suarez and Stine Grodal, both of Boston University School of Management, shows that names are no small matter. Their multiyear research finds that “a company’s labeling strategy can have important performance implications for products in nascent markets.”

“New industries are characterized by an early period of confusion and uncertainty about use and meaning, which brings about a proliferation of category labels that attempt to describe the new products,” write Suarez and Grodal in “Mastering the ‘Name Your Product Category’ Game,” in the Winter 2015 issue of MIT Sloan Management Review. “As an industry matures, the struggle between different category labels quiets down as one label gradually becomes dominant.”

Ideally, companies want to time their entry into a new industry to when a dominant category label emerges. The authors call companies who manage this ideal timing “Tempo Movers.”

But it’s not always possible to have perfect timing. A company might be pressured by investors to enter the market early. Or R&D might be taking longer than anticipated, leaving a company, as Suarez and Grodal put it, “one beat behind the industry’s tempo.”

Depending on when a company enters a new industry, Suarez and Grodal’s research suggests three distinct strategies to optimize performance:

1. Early Movers should focus on hedging their bets.

The strategy here is to give products several category labels at the same time. “While it might seem advantageous to commit to only one category label and to communicate that choice clearly, we suggest that companies that enter a market early can better manage the uncertainty by associating their products or companies with several category labels simultaneously,” write Suarez and Grodal. They cite the example of a company that positioned itself variously as “nanotechnology,” “micro-fluidics,” or “nano-biology” depending on what its partner was most interested in. “Only after ‘nanotechnology’ became the dominant category label in the industry did the CEO commit to positioning his company only with that label,” the authors write.

2. Late Movers should conform to the dominant category label.

Entering the market after one dominant category label has taken hold invites a strategy that should be obvious: adopt the front-runner category label. “After the consolidation of both the dominant category and the dominant design, there is no longer much room to shape the dominant category label; by definition, it has already been ‘shaped’ and infused with meaning,” Suarez and Grodal write. They point to Hewlett-Packard Co., which has talked about reentering the phone market with a “smartphone.” HP called its 2002 smartphone a “communicator” and its 2004 smartphone an “all in one device.” HP, the authors note, “did not use a hedging strategy in the early years of the industry, but now that the industry has matured, it is conforming to the dominant category.”

3. Tempo Movers get to shape the industry.

Companies that introduce their products during the optimal window of opportunity get to create or identify the dominant category label. They get to shape it by infusing it with meaning. These companies have the highest chances of success in an emerging industry, although this window of opportunity often is characterized by a steep rise in the number of companies entering the market. Suarez and Grodal warn that to succeed, “these companies’ labeling strategies have to be sharp and effective, because the ideal window of opportunity does not stay open long.” They cite the example of Burton Snowboards, which introduced the label “snowboard” and ended up with more than 40% market share.

Being a Tempo Mover and coming up with a label that dominates an industry is an art, however. It’s not easy. For Suarez and Grodal’s ideas on how to create a category label that sticks, read their full article.

]]>http://www.business2community.com/product-management/optimize-products-entry-new-category-01220425/feed0The Reports of Its Death Have Been Exaggerated: The PMO is Alive and Well!http://www.business2community.com/product-management/reports-death-exaggerated-pmo-alive-well-01217265
http://www.business2community.com/product-management/reports-death-exaggerated-pmo-alive-well-01217265#commentsSun, 10 May 2015 04:51:57 +0000http://www.business2community.com/?p=1217265There is no topic that has held the interest of the project management community more intently than the PMO. Attend any gathering of project managers conducted by associations around the world and the sessions on the PMO are typically SRO. Multiple “PMO of the Year” awards are bestowed annually to PMOs in organisations of all types, and in all locations, who have evidently proved their worth, and expense, to their CEO, or even better, their CFO.

So, why is it that we are reading in print and hearing at conferences that PMO’s are providing little value while only adding costs? That PMO Directors are more interested in cramming a project management methodology down the throats of unsuspecting project and program managers than in the business outcomes of the endeavors themselves? And, that the average life span of a PMO is only four years and getting shorter? In short, that the PMO has apparently come to the end of its useful life and that something else, never mentioned of course, will take its place?

We’re hearing this because in some sense there is truth to some of the criticism, but it largely ignores the good, if not great, work that many PMOs do day in and day out. Negativity sells, and if you’re a company that sells PMO courses, consulting, PMO methodologies, or anything related to helping an organisation build and run a PMO scaring them into your products and services is simply one strategy that can actually work.

Moreover, such criticism makes excellent “grist” for the presentation and publication “mill” as well. I’d be lying if I didn’t say I added a few of these “eye catching” stats about the sorry state of the PMO now again in my presentations. If nothing else, it keeps folks awake!

PMOs are alive and well and they’re here to stay simply because they work.

They do provide value to an organisation because they do the following:

Provide the visible manifestation of the value of project management in the organisation

Drive good project management practice, in the form of methods and procedures, throughout an organisation

Help to develop a career path for project managers ensuring that the organisation recruits and retains top-notch talent

Identify and develop the requisite skills and competencies in project staff to successfully complete the most simple to the most thoroughly complex projects and programs

Provide a forum through a community of practice for its project and program managers to learn from one another

Convert strategy into action by engaging with senior executives through the process of portfolio management

Provide ongoing, and real-time, mentoring, coaching, and support to project staff

Regularly apprise senior executives of the “health of the portfolio” through sophisticated project dash-boarding tools, techniques and methods

I like to look at the PMO has being a “change agent” because it is through projects, programs and other initiatives that major change is delivered to an organisation. Think about it. How else does change happen in your organisation if not through projects and programs?

When reading all the criticism leveled at PMOs I keep asking myself if the PMO wasn’t there who would do all the work I described above? Well, if you look back far enough, at a time when there weren’t any PMOs to speak of, this important work wasn’t being done very well at all. It was diffused throughout the organisation being tackled by people who had other things to do, and whose other things took primary importance.

As a consequence, projects and project management suffered. Project failures were commonplace, project managers were untrained, project management practices had not been codified leaving it to the imagination and creativity of each person running a project to think it up as they went along, and the role of project manager was an “accidental” one, taken up by some unsuspecting poor soul who just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time when the organisation went looking for a PM to do the job.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t think we should ever return to that past. Organisations can’t afford to. That’s why the PMO is here to stay. They are doing good work and they can do better work if their organisations provide more resources and authority to let them do their job. Let’s right the wrongs (perceived or otherwise) and work to strengthen the weaknesses we see in our PMOs. They’re the best hope for the future of a professional project management practice than the alternative, which, by the way, no one has offered yet!

You don’t need me to quote from the Standish Chaos report or any of the other ubiquitous sources of statistics on the shortcomings of projects, or rather, their outcomes. If you are involved in PMOs you will already be painfully aware of the need to improve performance; of the basic fact that a simple PMP or AMP qualification does not mean that the holder can actually run a project or that methodology and process whilst fundamental to managing a project are only loosely connected to project success.

Imagine these two elements of competence and process are the two axes on a graph. How can your PMO develop project managers to fill that big empty space between the X and Y axes?

What kinds of skills are needed?

You’ll be a better judge than me of the skills that your organization needs in your project managers; they are dependent on the content of your projects and relate strongly to the culture of your organization.

Let me offer some examples of what’s needed:

The ability to cope with uncertainty – which translates into an ability to make sense of different options; to communicate complex and complicated ideas; to adapt behaviour and plans, while keeping a firm eye on the desired final outcome;

The self-confidence to act – which you might perhaps best see expressed in the often-quoted prayer of St. Francis of Assisi: “grant me the strength to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference”;

The self-awarenessto understand the impact of what you are doing on others – empathy, communication, imagination are all the staples of effective stakeholder engagement.

What’s the PMO’s role in developing these skills?
By and large these are not skills that can be acquired simply through training. They are all skills which are learned and which we often associate with experience and with development which suggests that the PMO’s role should involve

modelling actions and behaviours for others to follow;

coaching and mentoring project managers;

facilitating the kind of learning events that enable what Albert Bandura called Social Learning

None of this is necessarily easy. Most project managers are too busy delivering to spend time worrying about their self-awareness, their personal heuristics or on social learning.

What’s the solution?If you want to engage your project teams in learning these skills then think about the following question:

What’s my motivation?

There are several motivators that can be useful to you:

Status – can you involve more experienced and senior managers in developing their peers? Focus on the status that you might give them as ‘experts’;

Reciprocity – we’ve all learned about the value of reciprocity thanks to social media. Think about how you might encourage your project teams to share more; emphasise and celebrate successful knowledge shares;

Knowledge self-efficacy – forgive the jargon; this basically implies that you should think about the satisfaction that employees get in a job well-done. It’s a trait that is particularly strong in project managers who are used to delivering against the odds;

Support – if you are running learning events, encourage senior managers to get involved; to give up their time and show their commitment to the PMO; make sure that everyone makes time for these kinds of events and line managers don’t just support their staff when they want to take part but actively get involved; helping them to reflect before and after the event.

Offering praise or rewards for successful outcomes, again with the support and endorsement of senior managers can help develop a sharing culture;

Technology – alongside these longer-term and less tangible motivators, it’s good to give project managers an immediate payoff. That means using technology (whatever you use in terms of intranet, wiki, Sharepoint or other tools) to provide them with instant solutions to immediate problems. Make it easy for them to quiz their colleagues and make any knowledge resources, case examples or other material searchable and findable.

There are multiple factors to consider for improving packaging for your business. Protecting products is important, but businesses must also be mindful of costs and the impact of packaging on the environment. Bulk bags are an increasingly popular and sensible choice for several reasons:

Reduce packaging costs

Using multiple sacks to store large loads can end up costing you 30% more than if you were to use a single bulk bag. For example, to bag a 1,000kg load, you could use forty 25kg sacks costing £12, or just one 1,000kg bag for £7.50. Bulk bags can also be reused, unlike many sacks, which means you would not have to repurchase packaging as often, further reducing packaging spend.

Improve worker efficiency

Filling and handling multiple sacks is not only a time-consuming process, it is simply unnecessary when there are more effective solutions available. How much time and money could your company save by switching to bulk bags? Moreover the time spent on filling sacks could be better used for other tasks.

Assure product quality

The packaging industry has grown in spades and now offers a wide range of packaging options to suit a variety of requirements. Bulk packaging can be customised to meet specific needs, which can make a huge difference to your business. Food or pharmaceutical industries, for instance, have strict requirements for packaging – food-grade bags must be clinically sterile to meet UK and EU safety standards.

Compliance with industry standards

Industries that deal with hazardous or potentially hazardous substances require packaging that complies with stringent UN standards. Bulk packaging specialists can provide UN-certified bulk bags specially designed for transportation of these hazardous goods,

down to the minutest specification, such as materials that emit flammable gases when in contact with water.

Minimise waste

Large sacks are generally not designed for multiple use, whereas bulk bags can be reused. The number of times a bulk bag can be used depends on how it is filled and handled, as well as the contents of the load. Given the significant reduction in waste, it makes sense to switch from sacks to bulk bags.

]]>http://www.business2community.com/product-management/improve-packaging-efficiency-business-01205904/feed0How Organizations Plan to Recruit Project Managershttp://www.business2community.com/product-management/organizations-plan-recruit-project-managers-01207129
http://www.business2community.com/product-management/organizations-plan-recruit-project-managers-01207129#commentsSun, 19 Apr 2015 12:45:27 +0000http://www.business2community.com/?p=1207129The Project Management Benchmark Report which was launched earlier this year provides an overview of the lives of project managers in the UK today. There are so many areas covered that we never manage to put everything into the report itself. Next week we’ll be launching the next mini report – The Project Management Salary Guide – which is the most comprehensive view of project management salaries and rates in the UK to date. If you’d like to get a copy you can sign up to receive it at the end of the post.

In the meantime we wanted to take a look at what is happening in project management from the hirers point of view. First of all, it helps to understand how many project managers these hirers typically have within their business. Nearly 45% of businesses have between 5 and 10 project managers working for them:

The hiring managers were also asked how their project management team may have changed during 2014, the previous 12 months before the survey. The good news was 61% of hirers said their project team head counts increased during that 12 months, with the remainder saying the team numbers remained stable. No hirers were reporting losses to their team which can obviously been seen as a positive especially after a few years of unrest following the recession. The stability in the team numbers also shows that project managers were either happy with their positions or not quite ready to move onto pastures new.

Recruitment activity went up in 2014 for project managers and we wanted to know how hirers were choosing to resource this demand for further project managers for their organisations. Over 80% of their recruitment activity was focused on hiring permanent resources. It’s a good sign for confidence in a marketplace when permanent roles are being offered yet there are still a large proportion of fixed term contracts being offered (45%) which suggests not everyone is confident about offering a more permanent basis of work. The contract and temporary part of the market also remains buoyant which at the moment means there is plenty of recruitment activity happening in the marketplace. It’s good to see after a tough few years.

Hirers believe that 2015 will follow a similar vein to 2014 with more hiring for their project management teams. We want to find out what their thoughts were about salary levels. We are especially interested in the columns to the left. These are the numbers of hirers who believe salary levels will increase above and in line with inflation. With a combined total of 53% it is looking promising. Remember that these figures are in relation to new hires and not necessarily extending to existing staff members.

At Arras People we are seeing a lot more realistic salary and rate offers for project management roles. During the recession there were a lot more sellers than there were buyers so it stands to reason that some organisations capitalised on that. Now the market is shifting and throughout 2015 we’ll be monitoring the salary levels ready to report back at the end of the year.

With organisations looking to hire more project managers this year to increase their team sizes, it makes sense that they also have a view of their existing staff and what turnover figures are likely to be for the coming year. There is definitely a feeling of stability as over 70% believe their teams will not be changing. It would be better to see an increase in turnover (replacing the number of people who have left the business) because it creates more fluidity in a marketplace (we’re biased!). Fluidity is the moving of people through an employment market, as one job becomes vacant, another person moves from another organisation to fill it and therefore leaves another vacancy and so on. Yet we can’t complain too much if hirers think their staff are happy and content and have no desire to leave.

So the key message for recruiting project managers at the moment seems to be stability. There is a market for both permanent and contract workers; organisations are hiring cautiously and salary levels will hopefully fall at the right side of inflation.

As hiring managers think about their recruitment of project managers we had to ask what was most important to them when choosing the right project manager. There were two areas that were deemed to be ‘extremely important’. The first, project managers must have relevant experience. Second, the organisation must select them for the ‘right projects’ based on that experience.

It’s as clear-cut as that. There is a job there for project managers to ensure they represent their relevant experience throughout the recruitment process. Equally, there is a job there for organisations to be better at selecting project managers for the right projects they have. It shouldn’t be difficult yet both parties still struggle with it. And that’s a story for another day.

As the name implies, just-in-time manufacturing (or JIT) relies on processes coming together in a timely fashion. These processes must combine relationships with technology for the greatest efficiency and mutual benefit for all parties.

Sharing of pertinent information is critical to the success of interdependent systems, be it through your own business units, or with your supply chain partners. Supply chain integration uses technology to link ERP and production systems between customers and suppliers for:

There are several ways to increase collaboration between partners, from full supply chain integration, to automation of certain key processes. Here we look at how automation can improve just-in-time manufacturing for the benefit of suppliers, customers, and their customers too.

1. Supplier portals

Supplier portals act as a central access point for suppliers and customers to share key indicators and to manage their just-in-time manufacturing orders.

Perhaps the best known example of a supplier portal belongs to aerospace manufacturer Boeing, who use such a system to manage the 23,000 suppliers who provide parts for the Dreamliner aircraft. Using the portal, Boeing has implemented a just-in-time manufacturing process that can complete final assembly of a 330-seater passenger plane in just three days.

The key aspects of a supplier portal are:

Order requirements are posted online allowing suppliers to tender for supply, reducing the time and effort required to manage the procurement process.

Both supplier and customer are kept up to date with order progress at all times through the portal.

All information relating to the project is stored centrally so parties can answer their own queries, reducing both overheads and delays for both parties.

Increase overall production efficiency by keeping all parties fully informed of progress and allowing for better planning of each stage of the just-in-time manufacturing process.

Despite being named ‘supplier’ portals, when implemented correctly, these platforms actually benefit both parties and make them a powerful tool for just-in-time manufacturing success.

“The internet has extended store opening hours, so that consumers now expect to be able to place orders 24 hours per day, 365 days a year. Why should commercial business operate differently?” – Portals: Your Customer Service Secret Weapon

2. Order automation

By making stock control systems accessible to their suppliers, replenishments can be ordered automatically once levels drop below a pre-defined level. For just-in-time manufacturing, the headline benefits are:

Never running short of raw materials and supplies in future.

A reduction in stock control measures and manual management.

Lower warehousing and storage costs.

Suppliers also benefit from advanced warning about stock needs, allowing them to better manage their own production and supply chains.

Because both parties are better able to manage their supply chains, the relationship between customer and supplier should also improve.

3. Invoice automation

Just as automating your order process reduces inefficiency and improves supplier relationships, so too with your billing. Upon completion and delivery of a discrete manufacturing order, an invoice is generated automatically and emailed (or transferred electronically) to your customer.

Reduces the opportunity for billing disputes, and delays resulting from them.

Improves cashflow.

By increasing the accuracy of invoicing, businesses have a better chance of safeguarding, or even improving their cash flow. A corresponding fall in payment disputes will also help to improve supplier-customer relationships even more so if you implement an automated payment system too.

]]>http://www.business2community.com/product-management/seize-control-improve-supplier-relationships-3-steps-01203222/feed0Leveraging Flexibility to Better Serve the Fleet and Field Service Workforcehttp://www.business2community.com/product-management/leveraging-flexibility-better-serve-fleet-field-service-workforce-01204110
http://www.business2community.com/product-management/leveraging-flexibility-better-serve-fleet-field-service-workforce-01204110#commentsTue, 14 Apr 2015 03:07:21 +0000http://www.business2community.com/?p=1204110There are an abundance of technologies on the market today that enable fleet and field services businesses to measure, record and analyze every aspect of their field operation; from knowing where their drivers are to controlling fuel costs, ensuring drivers’ safety and working to keep customers satisfied through intelligent scheduling.

Traditionally, in-vehicle telematics devices have been successful in helping businesses that operate large vehicle fleets to manage and measure their field operations. However, with increased customer expectations and increased competition, the dynamics of today’s field service workforce are changing to adapt to these demands. Contractor workforces are becoming more of a necessity for organizations, to help keep pace with the speed and quality of service and to provide cost-effective resource management, meaning leased or employee-owned vehicles are much more prevalent.

As a result, the need for flexible fleet options is required to ensure all workers and vehicles are managed effectively in order to optimize the workflow and meet service commitments. Aberdeen Group report that over half of organizations that have a hybrid workforce (both contractor and non-contractor) have prioritized investment in technology tools which enable better field access information.

Managing a flexible workforce

Service organizations are more open to diversifying their workforces with contractors because they know if managed correctly, there will be no decrease in performance. Such a workforce provides field service organizations many benefits. These include flexibility for resources, increased coverage, a reduction in service costs and increased quality as a result of allowing the organization to focus on core competencies while not being stretched when meeting customer needs.

Plug-and-play solutions are ideal for businesses that lease vehicles or use contractor workforces. Such a solution can be installed and removed quickly to easily move between vehicles, and still offer the same benefits as traditional wired-in fleet management solutions, at a lower cost. Real-time location information, driver behavior data, vehicle fault codes and vehicle status can all be recorded offering the real-time visibility and insight organizations need to measure, manage and improve their operations.

Many plug-and-play solutions also can be integrated with work management solutions which can offer optimized scheduling and job dispatch so a business can have complete visibility of their jobs and mobile workers alongside their fleet, all in one package.

This access to information empowers field workers with the customer and service insight at their fingertips necessary to resolve issues quickly no matter what type of worker they are.

Fostering fleet flexibility through mobility

Aberdeen Group recently found that 82 percent of field service organizations identified mobility as a strategic initiative for the service operation in the next 12 months, as a tool to empower the field with real-time intelligence to make decisions and resolve issues to better serve the customer.

In fact, an increasing number of field service businesses are integrating their work management capabilities into mobile applications, which they can then offer to their technicians to allow them to share, store and view job data while out in the field, providing a virtual link to the back office that helps to inform and empower them. Contractor workers or employees who use their own vehicles can also benefit from the use of mobile apps, if initially provisioned in to the back-end system.

The range of information offered through a mobile application can include previous work history of jobs and upcoming work details. For example, if a technician is en-route to a customer, a quick look at service history on a mobile phone can inform them that the customer has complained multiple times to the helpdesk about a product/equipment failure. This is important information that can help the technician approach the customer with care, helping to maintain a good customer relationship. In addition, when a technician reviews and accepts a job within a mobile application, the mobile device’s navigation tool can help them find the most efficient route, helping to reduce fuel consumption and travel time. From a service perspective, the technician can then pull up the customer’s details and call them to confirm when they will be arriving on-site.

Ultimately, fleet and field service businesses are constantly changing the way that they operate to keep up with the needs of the market. Fostering complete visibility of a workforce will always be a priority but more flexible fleet options need to be adopted today in order to achieve this across an increasingly dynamic field service workforce. Contractor workforces, leased vehicles and employees that use their own vehicles for work all offer their own benefits for helping businesses to improve efficiency and boost the bottom line. Building flexibility into a work day and having access to ‘flexible’ technologies that provide the same level of visibility to measure and manage operations as traditional in-vehicle telematics devices are therefore vital to operational success.

For more information on how your business can benefit from flexible fleet options and the solutions available, download a quick guide here or visit www.trimble.com/fsm.

Good stock management is at the heart of every successful wholesale business – whether you are a delivered wholesaler or a cash & carry. Not enough stock means poor availability and unhappy customers, while too much stock can mean increased wastage. How effective is your stock management? Is it helping you to improve efficiency, service and sales?

With technology racing ahead – there are constantly new developments in wholesale software that are helping wholesalers to improve the way they run their businesses.

How voice technology saved one wholesaler £400K

One of the most popular stock management tools at the moment is voice technology. Voice order picking is specifically designed to improve the speed, accuracy and productivity of order pickers by using speech recognition. Pickers wear a wireless headset and microphone that directs them to the relevant location within the warehouse. Wholesalers can confirm picks directly without having to input information manually. Glasgow-based J W Filshill uses voice order picking software and reduced pick time by 30% after installing it last year.

The end of missed sales opportunities

Perhaps one of the greatest benefits of wholesale software is that, with voice picking, there are no more miss-picks and no missed sales due to lack of availability.

Fork lift drivers are sent ‘replenishment alerts’ when stock goes below a certain level. Once the new stock is in the pick face, a message is sent out for the goods to be collected so the picker is always kept moving. The results are better efficiencies, better sales and happier customers.

Barry’s customers place orders for chilled products via a user-friendly web portal using iPads. The orders are then processed via a third party distributor, Cuisine de France, at its chill facility in Dublin, with goods delivered promptly the following morning. The web portal solution was a key success factor in their expansion into chilled distribution.

Is the future of stock management Radio Frequency Identification technology?

So what’s the next step for stock management? With technology moving so quickly it’s only a matter of time until there are even more options for wholesalers to choose from.

One suggestion is that the future will be about Radio Frequency Identification technology, Imagine a chip placed in a product as it goes to ‘goods in’, removing the need to scan all items. Instead, everything is identified with laser scanners, even on mixed pallets. The technology is used in the US now. It might be a few years away for the UK, but it could be closer than you think.

]]>http://www.business2community.com/product-management/taking-stock-successful-stock-management-wholesalers-01189417/feed0What’s Your New Product? Your Innovation Management Roadmaphttp://www.business2community.com/product-management/whats-new-product-innovation-management-roadmap-01188678
http://www.business2community.com/product-management/whats-new-product-innovation-management-roadmap-01188678#commentsMon, 23 Mar 2015 22:17:44 +0000http://www.business2community.com/?p=1188678One of the key drivers in FMCG companies is innovation, but sometimes it is easier said than done. Just why is innovation management important and how can companies, large and small, implement an effective and sustainable new product development process?

Most companies need to improve the quality of their innovation process, both significantly and rapidly.

Size up your brand’s growth potential
To understand the growth opportunities that your brand portfolio offers, it is advisable to implement a variety of projective techniques. These might include:

A map of future markets accounting for consumer trends.

A benefit-driven market segmentation based on function vs brand characteristics.

A prioritised set of innovation platforms.

Mapping future markets

Market trends can be researched using such online tools as Euromonitor International: Market research data. Wipes benefit from a number of trends. The wipes market is expected to benefit from increased consumer spending on greater hygiene and convenience, due to a rise in disposable income levels. This makes wipes an excellent candidate for brand extension.

Benefit-driven market segmentation

By segmenting consumer markets according to the benefits sought from a wipe product, it immediately becomes clear where the opportunities for new product developments are.

What is an innovation platform?
An innovation platform is a group of individuals with different backgrounds and interests who come together to diagnose problems, identify opportunities and find ways to achieve their goals. A good innovation platform will define the scope of opportunities, prioritise ideas and focus on all the players.

Facilitating innovation

In larger companies, innovation is traditionally a remit of the marketing department. Brand teams, with a good understanding of customer requirements, shoehorn in creative innovation and develop endless brand extensions alongside their general day-to-day duties. To offset this strain on resources, other companies create specialist innovation teams who have the time to focus on the creation of a strategic growth portfolio. They increase their sustainable growth potential through the adoption of both long-term divergent products and core brand extensions.

Smaller companies can find the resources to innovate through a cooperative development relationship with their supplier.

]]>http://www.business2community.com/product-management/whats-new-product-innovation-management-roadmap-01188678/feed0Building Better Products with Virtual Simulationhttp://www.business2community.com/product-management/building-better-products-virtual-simulation-01188814
http://www.business2community.com/product-management/building-better-products-virtual-simulation-01188814#commentsMon, 23 Mar 2015 21:37:20 +0000http://techproessentials.com/?p=1656Whether you are in IT or product development, your simulation performance can improve. Virtual simulation has become a critical enabler to any company looking to design more successful products.

The insight that can be derived before a physical prototype is constructed has consistently been shown as a Best-in-Class capability. The traditional way to manage and implement these simulation applications has been to take a siloed approach.

However, this tactic can leave huge gaps in an organization’s visibility into simulation performance and breed inefficiencies. There are two groups that a stovepiped simulation platform negatively impacts, Product Designers and IT, and, as new Aberdeen research shows, the best simulation platform is one that is consolidated.

For IT:

For the IT group, the use of the traditional siloed simulation platform all comes back to waste and inefficiency. First there is the sheer overhead of relying on multiple simulation vendors – install costs and wasted licenses really add up over time. There is also a lot of time that is wasted as a result of a siloed simulation platform.

Tying together different applications for co-simulation and dealing with data transfer issues are some of the drawbacks that IT personnel have to deal with regularly. Successful companies have started to consolidate the number of simulation vendors they use to ease the burden of their IT department. Indeed, over half of all respondents indicated that consolidation improved their IT operational efficiency, while only 25% said it did not have a positive impact (Figure 1 below).

Figure 1: The Impact of Consolidation on IT Efficiency

Also for those of you in the IT group, one thing to keep in mind is that 87% of designers expected their model sizes to grow in the future. So, even though you may be able to deal with a siloed platform at the moment, computational requirements are going to expand and you can’t keep spending your time gluing workflows together with scripting or other software components. Those companies that have consolidated have reported the following sharp improvements in their analysis performance:

17% Decrease in the time to prepare models for analysis

17% Decrease in the time from set up to results

11% Decrease in computer processing time of analyses

The benefits of a consolidated simulation platform are going to be essential for future simulation models.

For Product Designers:

For the designers, the use of the traditional siloed simulation platform all comes with limitations in the amount and breadth of simulation. The insights that virtual simulation have brought to designers has proven invaluable. This naturally has led to companies looking to simulate as early and as often as possible during a product’s lifecycle. In fact, the research shows that Best-in-Class companies are more likely than their peers to simulate product performance all the way from detailed components to manufacturing (Figure 2)Figure 2: Simulate Early, Simulate Often

However, if designers are stuck with a siloed simulation platform all of these analyses cannot be done. These companies only have the time to simulate the verification and testing of a product, which is valuable, but the benefits of constant simulation are far more impactful.

A siloed platform also inhibits collaboration between designers, which is critical as products today rely on multiple disciplines of engineering (electrics, structures, fluids). The data backs up the thinking as well, those companies that have consolidated now experience five less hours of wasted time per week on activities (handling large files, data transfer, mesh creation, etc.) that are not analyzing results. This allows the designers in these companies to focus on what is important – an optimal product.

Beyond the benefits to these two individual groups is a benefit to the bottom line, as companies that have made efforts to consolidate the number of simulation vendors they use have seen a 7% decrease in TCO the last 12 months. Want to learn more?

Join me on April 2nd at 1 pm EST (10 am PST) and find out why a consolidated simulation platform is critical to Best-in-Class product development.

In this webinar, we will dive deeper into:

The inefficiencies that designers and IT have to combat as a result of a siloed simulation purchases

Why companies have started to look towards consolidation as an effective option

The benefits that both groups have seen as a result of this consolidation

Can’t make it? Don’t worry; register now, and we’ll remind you to watch the recorded event on-demand.

On the surface, project management seems simple enough. You have a project that needs to get done and someone is in charge of managing all the moving parts. Yet, despite this explanation, project management remains one of least understood elements in small- and medium-sized businesses, from employees all the way up to C-level executives. This is especially scary when you consider how vital project management is.

Gantt Charts

One very effective project management tool is a Gantt chart. It displays the activities that make up a project against the time available. On the left of the chart, you list these various activities. Then, along the top, is the time scale. This can be broken down by days or actual hours.

Each activity gets its own bar, which begins at the start date and its expected duration. This allows someone looking at the chart to immediately understand:

All the various activities that make up the project

When an activity is to start and end

How long each activity is supposed to take

Where these activities overlap and by how much

The start and end date of the entire project

The origins of this type of chart go all the way back to the 1890s, when a Polish engineer named Karol Adamiecki took an interest in management techniques. 15 years later, an American engineer named Henry Gantt, who was also a management consultant, further refined the original version.

By making projects more transparent, Gantt charts bring together the entire team, fostering a cooperative environment. They also help project managers better allocate their resources (including staff) to increase their bottom line and ROI.

Unfortunately, many small- and medium-sized businesses often think that many virtual options aren’t worth their time. As you can see from this infographic, though, these perceptions are really just misconceptions.

For example, those companies that use virtual methods have reported higher productivity and even their employees found they wasted less time.

Take into consideration, too, that you can save money, and reallocate it for project management software, if you forego PMP certification. Two-thirds of CIOs don’t think it’s even necessary and 70% of project managers working for SMBs aren’t even certified.

Project management software is also great for communication, which is what project managers spend 90% of their time doing (it’s not all about paperwork).

Here’s a statistic just about everyone can relate to: 77% of employees at small- and medium-sized businesses think that meets are nothing but a waste of time.

When projects fall behind or end up costing more than forecasted, companies suffer—a lot. 45% of IT projects go past their budget. This leads to a 60% reduction in value. We’re not talking about a couple of dollars either. One of every six IT projects will have their costs go over by 200%. This is probably why only 20% of IT investments are actually worth it for small- and medium-sized companies. These projects also fall behind schedule by 70%.

Taking on a project should always mean utilizing the best possible software. Without these tools, your project is sure to go over budget and/or fall behind, two events that can cripple a business, even though they’re completely avoidable.

]]>http://www.business2community.com/product-management/truth-benefits-project-management-01169721/feed14 Habits of the Most Resilient Manufacturing Businesseshttp://www.business2community.com/product-management/4-habits-resilient-manufacturing-businesses-01166814
http://www.business2community.com/product-management/4-habits-resilient-manufacturing-businesses-01166814#commentsWed, 25 Feb 2015 02:32:29 +0000http://www.business2community.com/?p=1166814There are many changes facing the manufacturing industry. Make sure you’re ready to succeed by adopting these four habits for today’s digital age.

You know your business is resilient when it withstands the shock of change. Big change is happening right now, driven by digital technology.

“As manufacturing goes digital, it will change out of all recognition.”

Resilience and the ability to succeed through change can be learned. The best teachers are manufacturing companies whose culture already embraces adaptation.

Habit 1:

Increase connectivity throughout the organisation. Integrating the entire manufacturing process through IT brings consistency, quality and profit. It also removes reliance on specific individuals within the business.

Connectivity today is not limited by working conditions, time or location – so there’s no reason to keep what happens on your factory floor ‘offline’.

“The factory floor is the nucleus of a company and when properly optimised, it is a competitive advantage.”

Habit 2:

Get it right first time. Successful manufacturers don’t use changes in technology or the marketplace as an excuse for allowing quality to dip.

For inspiration look at Coats Viyella’s Thread Division, who has introduced a “Right First Time” system, meaning there is no need to reprocess – saving energy, labour and raw materials. This keeps them as market leaders in an industry where almost the entire product range changes twice a year.

Habit 3:

Eliminate unnecessary administration. Paperwork can tie up your experts in unproductive activities and it has a nasty habit of creating work that adds little or no value.

One global manufacturer is saving themselves $500 million a year after consolidating their administration functions into one location.

That’s obviously the big end of the scale – yet here in the UK, small single site manufacturers are embracing ERP software to ensure less staff time (and bottom line) is lost to administration.

Habit 4:

Be open to new markets and new ideas. Business history is littered with the wrecks of manufacturing companies who failed to adapt what they did.

In 1996, Kodak had 80% of the US market for photographic film, but in 2012 it filed for bankruptcy. Despite inventing the digital camera in 1975, the company chose to focus on making and selling film.

When Steve Jobs went back to Apple in 1997, the computer manufacturer was so sick that Michael Dell told him to shut it down. Jobs ignored him and went on to make innovative new products that transformed Apple into one of the world’s most valuable firms.